Officials with the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center say the unit is a crucial link for patients in rural Maine and New Hampshire.

The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center dedicated a new neonatal and pediatric transport ambulance today designed to provide intensive care services to acutely ill infants and children.

At a ceremony today in Portland, hospital officials said that not every facility can afford to have a neonatal and pediactric ICU. The special transport unit, they said, provides a critical link to the hospital for patients in rural Maine and New Hampshire.

Critical care nurse Laura Barra says all crew members are highly trained before they're allowed to go out on a transport. "It is like having an intensive care unit on wheels because I can do everything in this rig that I can do in the unit," she says.

Hospital officials say the new transport ambulance was funded entirely by community contributions. The Transport Program has logged more than two million miles since it began in 1996.